


Not A Goodbye

by TG_StarlightChronicles



Series: Starlight Chronicles [3]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27391180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TG_StarlightChronicles/pseuds/TG_StarlightChronicles
Summary: Years before Admiral Fujita Diru becomes captain of the Starlight, she comes aboard the space station Deep Space 9 to wait for the starship USS Voyager to arrive. She is happy to meat up with some of her old friends, including Miles O'Brien and Kira Nerys. However, she does not expect to end up in a murder investigation, or to get faced with some long lost feelings.
Relationships: Fujita Diru/Kira Nerys
Series: Starlight Chronicles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000692





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story before I started by Starlight series, and I'm not sure whether I want it to be a part of the storyline, I might change the storyline later on.

FUJITA LOOKED AROUND THE battered Operations Centre. She saw a dozen of people walking around, working on the endless stream of tasks that were always lying around on a space station of this size. She saw the viewscreen on the far end of the alien-looking room, and the bunch of Cardassian and Federation panels and workstation. Her eyes soon found a familiar presence, and she quickly smiled as Chief of Operations Miles O’Brian looked her way. She then turned around to face Commander Sisko, who had brought her here.

‘This is Ops’, the Commander said, quite needlessly. Fujita would recognise a command centre anywhere. There was an undeniable sense of importance in a room like this, from where everything was decided.

‘I assumed so’, Fujita responded. ‘It’s quite… beautiful.’

Sisko pulled up an eyebrow. ‘That’s not an expression I hear often about a Cardassian structure.’

Sisko was right, the Cardassian style of building was not something that was generally considered good-looking, but it was neat and efficient – though slightly intimidating and dark for those who had not grown up among Cardassians.

Sisko turned toward an auburn-haired woman, who had so far been standing on their left, at a big control panel. ‘Admiral, let me introduce my First Officer and Bajoran liaison officer, Major Kira Nerys.’

The woman Sisko was pointing at, swiftly turned around at the mention of her name, and stuck out her hand toward Fujita. Fujita saw a slight quiver in her eye. However, the Major instantly recomposed herself and smiled. ‘Kira Nerys’, the woman said. Her voice hid no sign of the earlier puzzlement.

Fujita took the Major’s hand and said: ‘I’m Fujita Diru, haven’t we met before?’

‘I believe so’, Kira said, and the pondering look returned.

‘I wasn’t aware you two knew each other’, Sisko stated, while he, again, slightly raised his brow.

Kira glanced down uncomfortably. ‘Karahna Prison Camp’, she mumbled, not directed to anyone specifically.

The memory of the Camp struck Fujita. It had been hell. She had only been there for a few days, but what she had seen had been horrifying. Bajorans had been raped and tortured, not rarely even slaughtered. She could not wrap her head around how intelligent beings could possibly do something like that to one another. But she had seen it often enough, mindless slaughter.

Fujita shook her head to clear the dreading memory. ‘Yes, the Camp’, she said, not even bothering to put on her usual fake smile. Everyone in the room knew that whatever it was that had brought her and Kira to this camp, it had not been pleasant. Many of the people here had experienced the crooked power of the Cardassian Union first hand, and those who had not, had heard enough terrifying stories.

‘Commander, is it okay if Major Kira and I talk in private? If you want that, of course, Kira.’ Fujita said, looking at the Major with an undeterminable expression.

‘Of course. You can use my office’, the Commander responded. He looked puzzled, but he knew better than to intrude on private memories. He gently gestured to a room on their left.

Fujita looked at Kira, who nodded. Both of them walked toward the room. The big, glass doors opened with a hiss, and closed as soon as both of them were inside. The room itself was slightly darker than Fujita was used to – as was every room on a typical Cardassian station. There was a desk in the middle of the room, which Fujita sat down on.

‘I didn’t know you’d be here’, Fujita said.

‘Neither did I about you’, Kira responded, the quiver still in her eyes.

Fujita sighed, not knowing how to continue. It had been so long since she had seen Kira, the woman had not been much more than a girl back then. Fujita saw she had changed. Kira had cut her hair short, and frankly, that suited her well. It made her look older, stronger; and she was strong. Of course – being a Bajoran officer – she wore a red Bajoran uniform now, which contributed to her more mature look. But the biggest change was in her eyes. Those deep, brown eyes. There was a sense of determination that had not been there before. And a sense of warmth. The troubled, emotional and slightly aggressive girl had transformed into a responsible and determined woman, though Fujita sensed that the temperament had not disappeared. And she knew that neither had her own.

‘How are you?’ Fujita condemned herself for not being able to think of anything better to say, but Kira seemed grateful for a light subject.

‘I’m good, thank you’, she responded.

Fujita smiled. Too often she heard people say that without meaning it – or heard herself say that without meaning it – but something in Kira’s voice told her that she was genuine. Kira was someone who would straight-up tell you when something was wrong. No dancing around hard feelings, no hiding, just get it over with.

‘It’s good to see you again, Fujita’, Kira continued.

‘Likewise. The station seems lovely.’ Fujita softly tugged her uniform in a way she had seen Captain Picard do numerous times back on the _Enterprise_ , and which was famously named the ‘Picard-Maneuver’ by his friends; though of course everyone knew that the actual Picard Maneuver was something totally different. Fujita sometimes caught herself copying the gesture in tense situations, needing to do something with her hands but not knowing what.

There had fallen an awkward silence, with neither of the women knowing how to continue. After a minute or so, Kira plainly stated: ‘The Camp.’ Fujita looked up while the Major continued: ‘Thanks again for saving my life.’

‘It’s my job.’

‘No it wasn’t. It might be now, but back there, you weren’t acting as Starfleet officer, and we both know it. I mean…’ Kira grew silent again.

‘You mean, I was violating every bloody rule I knew just to save your puny ass, so you could make a statement back on Bajor and save some more puny asses.’ Both officers noticed the change in Fujita’s speech, but the Human smiled while saying it.

‘Yes, you saved my “puny” ass, and now Bajor is free and I’m on DS9.’

‘Exactly.’

The subject that Kira and Fujita were talking about was dead serious, but Kira could not contain a burst of laughter, and Fujita soon followed. Reunions with old friends were something that happened way too little.

‘Alright, now we’ve got the past sorted, I’d like to hear what you’re currently up to’, Fujita said when their laughter had died down. Kira quickly told her old friend about her years on Deep Space 9 since the independence of Bajor. She had made a bunch of new friends – mainly the Trill Jadzia Dax and the changeling Constable Odo – and had been on many fun and less fun adventures. The station had really become her home – despite being Cardassian – and the crew were becoming more and more her family.

Of course, she also had lesser memories; she had been here when the Cardassians still occupied Bajor, and DS9 had still been Terok Nor. But now, three years later, the memories started to fade – though they would never be forgotten – and they could no longer weight up to the fun Kira had at the station and with the people there. Frankly, she loved the place.

Fujita listened with great interest while the Major told her story, glad to see how the young Bajoran had finally found a proper home. And suddenly, she realized; so had she herself. When the two women first met, neither of them had really had a place they could call home. They had been traveling around, only going where needed and never where wanted. Both needing to fight for their own rights and for their own life, though of course in a completely different way. Kira had literally had to fight for her life, and for that of her friends and species; Fujita had had to fight for a place in the world that had once, in fact, been her home, but that had changed incomprehensibly much since she was brutally thrown out of it, decades ago. They had a lot in common, the two women. That might have been part of the reason they had become so quickly friends in the short time that they had known each other. Another was, of course, because Fujita had saved Kira’s life. Fujita was one of the few people who genuinely understood what Kira had been through, having been through it herself back on her home planet, and that connected them.

‘… And well, that’s it really’, Kira concluded.

‘Quit a story.’

A smile touched Kira’s face. ‘What about you?’

The Admiral stayed silent for a second, doubting what to tell and where to start. ‘Well…’ she began uncertainly, ‘When I got back to the _Billings_ , the first thing they did was demote and transfer me. The Captain knew that what I had done – saving you and your friends – had technically been the right thing to do, but I’d broken so many regulations that he had no choice _but_ to transfer me. So I was reassigned to the USS _Malibu_ , a small cargo ship. But of course, I was sent away after a few months. I served on three more ships, until I was assigned to the _Enterprise_ in 2364. That was actually Captain Janeway’s doing. She recommended me, and Captain Picard was crazy enough to believe her – despite my poor record.

‘So now I was on the _Enterprise_ , and of course I thought “This is the bloody flagship, they’re never gonna let me stay here”, but then I became friends with the First Officer, William Riker, and he accidentally found out that I wasn’t just Fujita Diru, I was _The_ Fujita Diru. So suddenly no one cared about my bad record and behaviour anymore. They promoted me to admiral and let me pretty much do whatever the hell I wanted. I’ve now been on the _Enterprise_ for seven years, and honestly, it’s fantastic.’

‘I’m glad you found a home too’, Kira said with a grin, and Fujita realized she, too, must have thought about how both of them had been “homeless” when they first met, and how much had changed.

Suddenly, Kira’s combadge chirped and let through the sound of Commander Sisko’s mechanic voice. _‘Sisko to Kira. Please come to Ops.’_ Kira looked up slightly surprised, then excused herself and walked to Ops, Fujita following in her footsteps.

_\---_

The distress call came from a colony transport ship from an unknown alien species from the Gamma Quadrant, called the Vreoi. Their warp engines had been fused, and an overload was imminent. Commander Sisko had, of course, jumped to action. The Bridge crew of the vessel had been beamed to Deep Space 9, after which the Captain of the Vreoi ship had ordered Sisko to transport the resulting passengers off, too. The transports were now in progress, but there were two thousand passengers, and there was very little time.

‘We _have_ to get them out’, Kira said – quite needlessly – with a hint of worry in her voice.

‘You know the transporter systems better than I do’, Fujita responded. ‘Is there any way to get them out of there faster? Transporting more people at once, using more transporters?’

‘If there was, we’d have tried it.’

Fujita sighed. There were going to be deaths today, and there seemed to be nothing they could do about it. But there _had_ to be. There is always a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle; it is just a matter of finding it. The Admiral shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She was intelligent, she was a quick thinker; but this was an unknown place with unknown people and recourses. She was not certain what was possible here, and she was certain there were solutions that she was not aware of. If she had only been here longer, she might have had an idea.

\---

‘Commander’, Kira called. ‘How many of them are left?’

Commander Sisko, who had been standing near the transporter pad, walked over to the Major. ‘About fifteen hundred.’

It had been about three minutes since they had started transporting the passengers out of the Vreoi ship. Deep Space 9 had a total of twenty-five transporter, which meant they could transport about a hundred and fifty people per minute. It would take them at least another ten minutes to get everyone out. The question was, if they even had ten minutes.

‘Bloody hell’, Fujita whispered, not loud enough for anyone to hear but her. She scratched her neck and looked around Ops, which was buzzing with action. Then she turned toward the Commander. ‘Let me get them with a runabout.’

‘You’d never get there in time.’

‘I will if I leave now.’ The worry that had before been visible in Fujita’s eyes if you would have looked very carefully – she was careful not to show her emotions – had changed into a determined expression. ‘I’m a good pilot.’

‘Let me go’, Kira intervened. ‘You’re a guest on the station. We can’t ask you to do this.’

Fujita looked at the Bajoran woman. She noticed that the Major had the same determined look that she herself did. The woman’s body was tensed from worry, adrenaline and slight anxiety. But not in a bad way. Anyone – especially commanding officers – would be tense right now. Fear keeps you sharp. Fujita knew Kira was up to the job. Definitely. She was just as good a pilot as Fujita herself was, having flown wrecked and broken shuttles almost daily during her time in the Shakaar resistance movement on Bajor. But this was a dangerous mission. One wrong move, one hesitation, and she would be too slow. The Vreoi ship would be destroyed, quite likely taking the runabout and its pilot along in the process. Fujita could not risk someone’s life over her own. She had to do this herself.

‘No. I’m going, period. I might be your guest, but I’m also a Starfleet Admiral, which means I have to stand ready to give my life for that of others every single second of the day. I’m going.’ And with that, she turned around and hurried out of Ops.


	2. Chapter 2

THE _RIO GRANDE_ SCREACHED as Fujita fired up the impulse engines way further than they were designed to. She did not care about breaking a ship, she had a job to do. The Vreoi ship quickly came in vision range as the runabout grew closer.

When Fujita had left from Deep Space 9, she had had about five more minutes before the Vreoi vessel would blow. By that time, eighteen hundred and fifty of the two thousand of the Vreoi crew would already be on DS9. One hundred and fifty passengers would be left onboard the vessel. They would never all fit on the small runabout, Fujita knew that, but right now she had to concentrate on other matters.

When Fujita got close enough to the vessel, she tried to dock the _Roi Grande_. She had not anticipated that the Vreoi vessel would have caught fire, which made the process fairly more difficult. After a few attempts, however, it worked. Fujita turned off the strained engines and stood up out of the chair. She glanced over at Deep Space 9 – which she could just see through the viewscreen – wondering if she would ever see it from inside again. If so, she had to hurry. So, she quickly strode to the runabout’s doors and slid them open.

Fujita could barely contain the urge to cough as a rush of hot air came over her. Her eyes flung up through the open runabout doors, and caught the sight of hungry flames of fire licking the silvery, metal doors of the Vreoi ship. The gravity of the situation rushed over her once again, as she realized that if _she_ already had trouble breathing in the hot and toxic air, the Vreoi passengers would really be in trouble. Bravely, she strode forward, keeping her eyes on the ground.

After a few seconds, desperate voices became audible through the battered hallways. Panicked murmurs and scared calls reached Fujita. The Admiral knew that she had to hurry, and her pace gradually turned into a sprint. She pushed her combadge, hoping that anyone of the passengers would know how to operate a communicator.

‘Fujita Diru to the Vreoi crew.’

It stayed silent for a moment, but eventually a voice sounded through the Admiral’s combadge. ‘ _Help us… please._ ’

Fujita felt a rush of anxious adrenaline come over her, and ran even quicker toward where she thought the voices were coming from. The realization that she could never save everyone hit her again. Oh, how glad she was that she had managed to keep Kira from taking the mission, and from the dreadful task of deciding who would die and who would live.

‘I’m getting you out of here’, Fujita called into her combadge, making sure that there was no hint of emotion in her voice. At that exact moment, Fujita made a turn to the left and stood in front of a gigantic door. It opened automatically, despite the ship’s wrecked systems.

The scene behind the doors shocked Fujita. These people were more dead than alive. Many of them were unconscious, undoubtably due to the toxic gasses that were making even Fujita dizzy. The ones who had not lost consciousness, lay slumped on the ground, many lying half on top of each other. The Vreoi back on Deep Space 9 had been sluggish and poor-looking, but these looked far worse. No one of them wore clothes that were even worthy of the name “clothes’’. They wore bags and rags made of cloth that had clearly never been meant for humanoid purposes. It seemed none of the passengers had showered in weeks, or had even had a good meal for days. It was clear that the higher classes of Vreoi had been transported off the vessel first.

The room itself did not look much better. Metal walls were scratched and stained, in some places even broken. Junk lay around everywhere. Chunks of metal, trash, dirt. Fujita even saw puddles on the floor, and if she could trust the stench that hung the room, it had to be piss.

Fujita took a deep breath and stuck her chin in the air. _Time to bring these people hope, even if it’s false._

‘People’, she began uncertainly, but without a hint of hesitation in her voice noticeable to the Vreoi. ‘I have a ship docked on your vessel. In a few minutes, all of you will be out of here. However, I cannot take all of you in one run. I ask you to, please, divide in three equal groups of fifty people. All of you will be either token off here with my runabout, or you will be transported to our space station nearby.’

A murmur arose from the group, and Fujita realized that her announcement would result in chaos. Most of the Vreoi had stood up and were frantically calling out to each other and wandering around, but no groups were being formed at all. Fujita wanted to slap herself for expecting these people to listen to her.

‘Okay!’ She called out, more commandingly. ‘I’m going to pick three of you who are gonna make groups. They’re first gonna pick family and friends, and everyone who’s left will be divided equally over the three groups.’ That ought to work. She then walked toward the crowd and pointed toward three Vreoi: an older man – his hair grey and his face wrinkled; a young woman with bright, blonde hair and green eyes that shone intensely, despite the terrible circumstances; and a boy, maybe not even twelve years old. They stepped forward and stood in front of Fujita, who nodded kindly at them. Slowly, their friends and family stepped forward as well, forming three rows of about twenty people.

Since Deep Space 9 kept beaming Vreoi to the station, there were now about a hundred and ten people left – which was even less than Fujita had at first expected, they were doing a good job back in the station. At least thirty of the resulting Vreoi would also be beamed to DS9 before Fujita would leave, the rest had to be divided over the groups. Fujita felt the dreadful knowledge that she could only take one group with her – and maybe that would not even fit in her small vessel – hit her again. But she waved the thought away and concentrated on her task.

‘Alright, now the rest of you! The man in the blue shirt and green pants until the brunette with the orange jacket, you join group one, the group off…’ Fujita felt silent as she realized that she did not know the names of the three Vreoi she picked. She looked toward the older man.

‘Merax’, he said, understanding why she hesitated.

‘You’ll join the group of Merax’, Fujita finished her sentence. Then she looked at the other two group-leaders.

‘Heiri’, the woman said, while she looked at the ground and fiddled nervously with her hair.

The boy shily said: ‘Nurun.’ Fujita smiled encouragingly at him, and then turned back toward the group, her eyes scanning the Vreoi that were left.

‘Now, the blond man with the cute baby’, she continued, smiling again at the mention of the man’s child, ‘till the man sitting on that metal chunk, you’re in Heiri’s group, and the rest is in Nurun’s.’ She counted one more time, making sure the groups were equal in number, and then walked over to Merax.

‘We better leave now.’ He nodded. To the other groups, Fujita said: ‘You all stay here, I will be back as soon as I can to take the rest of you out of here.’ A lie. She walked away.

\---

It hurt Fujita to think that she had given these people hope for survival, knowing that they would die then and there. But it had been the only way to get _anyone_ out of there alive, without terrible chaos – and possibly even bloodshed – holding them back.

Now she, Merax and their group of forty Vreoi – quite a few had been beamed off the vessel by now, reducing the groups to a number of forty people – were running toward the _Rio Grande_. According to earlies made calculations, the Vreoi had about a minute left before their ship would explode. They had to hurry.

Fujita’s hair swept in her face, her ponytail was getting loose. Even though the Vreoi vessel was not by far as gigantic as Deep Space 9 or an average starship, it was big. Fujita had better stamina than mostly anyone she knew, but the toxic gasses in the ship’s air where acting up and she felt her heart pound in her chest – both from physical strain and emotions caused by the dreadful mission. Her hands swept aggressively along her sides and het feet stomped on the hard, metal floor. She looked around, her eyes catching those of Merax, who was visibly in greater trouble than she was; frankly, she was tired, but she was used to running for hours on end. Then her eyes found the rest of the group, and she saw little children and elder Vreoi falling behind. Silently, she cursed herself for not being able to stop and wait for them. If they were left behind, they might not be able to get on the runabout in time. However, if they did wait for them, no single one of the group would be on time.

Suddenly, Fujita turned around a corner and saw the fire-lit hallways that led toward the entrance of the _Rio Grande_. She stopped, gesturing for those behind her to continue on their way.

‘Merax, take them into the ship!’ she called as the older man dashed past her. He nodded, panting too hard to answer.

People were lining up in the runabout, which was getting full way faster than Fujita liked. They would never all fit in there. The ship was designed for a small number of passengers, it had even only four chairs. However, if they squeezed together, they might be able to get about thirty people in. That was still too little.

Fujita looked up from her thoughts, and saw that twelve of the passengers had fallen quite far behind. If she wanted to get out of here in time, she had to make a decision. So, she picked up the only child close to her, dragged him inside, then closed the door.


	3. Chapter 3

THE CHAOS SEEMED TO have died down. It was three hours after Fujita and the group of thirty-two Vreoi had gotten back to Deep Space 9. A total of nineteen hundred and thirty-eight Vreoi had made it safely to the station. Some of them had been wounded, but Doctor Bashir had treated their injuries and none of them were in critical danger anymore. The other Vreoi had been assigned quarters and had all settled in.

Fujita – who had discovered the bar about an hour ago – was sitting at Quark’s, drinking a cranberry coffee. She had just token a sip and was looking around the rest of the bar, when she heard a voice behind her.

‘It’s not your fault, you know that.’

Fujita turned around and saw Kira standing behind her.

‘It’s the only thing you could do. You’re the entire reason they’re alive, really. It’s not your fault that they’re dead; if you hadn’t been there, they’d all be dead. You saved them’, Kira continued, worry visible in her eyes. It might have been years since the women previously met, but they knew each other well, and Kira knew what was going through Fujita’s mind right now.

‘Yeah, I know. I saved them. But I didn’t save them all, and I’m damned for not finding a way.’

‘Fujita, there _was_ no way.’

Fujita sighed irritably. ‘There is always a bloody way!’

Kira took a step back. She knew Fujita’s temperament was not something to play with, even if you were trying to help. The woman did not like talking about her feelings. Certainly not if she felt forced to do so.

‘I’m sorry, I-‘

‘No, it’s alright.’ Fujita sighed again, her right fist clenched. She should not be getting mad, Kira was right. ‘I just… It feels like I should have done more, even if I couldn’t. I’m a Starfleet Admiral for God’s sake, it’s my job.’

‘Where in your job description does it say that you have to save every single life that’s out there?’ Kira muttered, but Fujita knew that she was thinking back at the times that she had not been able to save someone. Kira had to know how Fujita was feeling right now. That the Human woman technically could not have done anything else, did not mean that she did not feel responsible. And it hurt.

Kira pulled up a chair and sat down next to Fujita, her head resting in her hands. ‘What a day.’

Fujita looked at her friend, trying to guess what was going on in her mind. She sensed something curious. Dread, but… not really. She was not sure what she sensed exactly.

‘There are so many lives we should have saved but didn’t.’

Fujita shook her head. ‘You’re thinking about Arya, aren’t you?’

\---

_Nerys lifts her head from her dirty and bruised arms when she hears a sudden and loud bang. Her guards must have heard it too, because they look at each other with puzzlement and walk away, their guns still lifted. Kira looks around at her friends and colleagues – Leri Arya, Beyten Rubio, Hom Cerbetel and Seibian Ruggtei – who lie stumped on the muddy ground around them._

_Two days ago, they – a group of members of the Shakaar resistance cell – had entered Karahna Prison Camp, pretending to be prisoners. Their goal was to get information about any recent and future Cardassian actions. However, they had been caught and imprisoned before they could get their hands on anything that might be of any use to them._

_‘What’s that?’ Ruggtei whispers; even though the guards might seem gone, they cannot know when they come back, and the Cardassians do not exactly appreciate questions. Ruggtei’s question must be rhetorical however, because clearly none of the group knew the answer._

_‘It sounded like an explosion’, Arya says._

_‘I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an explosion’, Rubio chimes in, after which Cerbetel says: ‘You wouldn’t even hear the difference between an explosion and a Cardassian_ Wodj-Egh _,_ _you dumbass’, and the two friends fall into a heated – though whispered – discussion._

 _All the while, Nerys stays silent. These empty guesses would not bring them any further, and the Bajoran woman is not much for socializing anyway._ Rather stay silent and think of a way of getting her and her friends out of there.

 _Suddenly, the guards return. In between them, they’re carrying a body. A woman, it seems. She looks horrible. Her brown hair is wet and slumped on her face, her clothes are torn and burned, and covered with blood. Nerys cannot see the woman’s face, but suspects she is unconscious. Nerys’ eyes widen._ The woman is wearing a Starfleet uniform!

_Nerys has heard of Starfleet, of course. The exploration-oriented space fleet from the United Federation of Planets. They were powerful – very, very powerful. Maybe this woman can help them get out of there. If she is even still alive…_

_One of the guards let go of the woman and opens the doors of the cell that holds Nerys and her friends. The other guard throws the woman into the prison, and she lands on the ground with a sickening thud. She lands on her back, her hair flying backward on impact and her bruised arms straining helplessly through the air. Nerys can now see her face. She is quite handsome, with a strong but fine face, rough but round cheeks, a fair nose that misses any sign of the typical Bajoran ridges, and the Bajoran woman was sure that the woman’s hair would have been beautiful, had it not been wet and smeared with blood. If Nerys remembers well, the woman is Human._

_Nerys waits until the guards walk back out again, and then crawls toward the woman. She feels her pulse, which is vague but steady. On first sight, the Human seems injured, but not too heavily. Nerys carefully shakes the woman, trying to wake her up._

_Arya walks up behind her. ‘Is she alright?’ she asks._

_‘She seems to be.’_

_Arya places her hand on the woman’s forehead, feeling her temperature, and then inspects her head injury. ‘This shouldn’t be life-threatening.’_

_Nerys notices that the woman’s eyes are beginning to open. She takes a step back, giving her space to wake up. After a bit, the woman’s golden-brown eyes focus on Nerys. She moves her mouth, seemingly wanting to talk, but no words come out. Then she sits up, but immediately grasps her head with both hands and moans. ‘Agh, bloody hell. That hurts.’_

_‘Careful’, Arya warns her. ‘You seem to have a concussion.’_

_‘No kidding.’_

_Nerys inspects the woman again with surprise. Her gold-brown eyes – which she has now closed again – light with a sense of authority and determination. She looks strong, powerful. Her body, even though it is now slumped, tells Nerys to be careful. The Bajoran cannot help but wonder how someone like this woman can get stuck in a place like this._

_‘Are you alright?’ Nerys asks._

_The woman lifts her head again and says lightly: ‘I’ll be.’_

_‘I’m Liriu Arya’, Arya states. ‘Are you a Starfleet officer?’_

_‘Yes I am’, the woman answers, smiling slightly. ‘I’m Fujita Diru.’ She sticks out her hand, then realizes it is smeared with blood and pulls it back, a hint of a grin dancing around mouth. Then she looks at Nerys and the other Shakaar members in the cell._

_Nerys, as if she reads Fujita’s mind, says: ‘I’m Kira Nerys, and these are Seibian Ruggtei, Beyten Rubio and Hom Cerbetel.’ She points at the men while introducing them._

_‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Ruggtei asks, after stepping forward._

_Fujita pulls up her brow and looks at the Bajoran man with an expression that fell between pain and amusement. ‘You might’ve heard a slight bang.’_

_‘That was you?’_

_‘Well, you would think you hear a bang when you crash a shuttle and it explodes, wouldn’t you?’_

_Nerys feels a weird rush of excitement at Fujita’s words. The woman was funny, somehow. A kind of funny that you did not hear often around here. Joking through the pain, despite the situation. Fujita is smiling, even though what she is saying is serious, and it attracts Nerys in a way. People like her, Nerys knows they can use them._

_‘You crashed?’ Nerys asks._

_‘Yeah, well, I did. Pretty stupid, to manage to crash exactly here.’ Fujita sat up, sliding a hand through her messy hair._

_‘I didn’t know Starfleet had missions near Bajor’, the Bajoran woman continues._

_‘They don’t, not really. I was on some scientific mission – nothing much interesting – and I my ship happened to have some issues as I pass the Bajoran system, so I had to make a stop and solve it. However, one of these bloody Cardassian ships shoots me down before I can get away. So yeah, I crash, and of course I manage to choose the worst bloody place in the Galaxy to do so. Anyway, my ship hits the ground and I’m hurt, but I knew the shuttle was gonna blow, so I jump out, and I see these Cardassians running toward me, and before I can even try to get away, they grab my arms. I try to get away but they knock me out, and, well, here we are. Anyway, stupid story. Excuse me for rambling, I’ve had a long day.’ Fujita’s crooked smile gives way for something else for a second, something sad, but she quickly recomposes herself. ‘I’m not planning on staying here long, so if you want to get out of here, you better stick close to me.’_

\---

_They run and run and run, harder and faster and farther. Somehow, Fujita had managed to get the group out of their cell. Nerys is not even quite sure how, but it does not matter. All that matters is that they got out. And that they get out of the Camp before they are caught by the guards._

_Fujita is running in front, taking the lead. She seems to know where she is going, even though she has only been in the Camp for a few hours. She is wounded, she quite probably has a concussion, but it does not seem to bother her. It is a miracle to Nerys that Fujita can keep running like this; but then, that is not the only thing about the woman that seems like a miracle. Their guardian angel, showing up at just the right moment to take them out of there. Could she sent by the Prophets? Though, why would they?_

_\---_

_Before Nerys and her groups had gotten caught, they had parked a space shuttle a couple of miles down. That is where they are heading now, the shuttle._

_‘Shit’, Nerys hears Fujita mumble as she stumbles and falls, painfully gritting her teeth. Nerys dives down and picks her up while she runs, pretty much dragging her along._

_While Nerys helps Fujita up, her eyes catch the sight of three Cardassian guards chasing them._

_‘Fujita’, she whispers, ‘They found us.’_

_Fujita swiftly turns around and comes to a halt, her eyes piercing into those of the guards and her hands raised, ready for a fight._

_‘Keep running’, she says to Nerys. But the Bajoran stops besides her, bravely facing their opponents, while the rest of the group runs along._

_‘You can’t stop them alone’, Nerys says._

_The Cardassian guards come running at them with great speed, not for a moment slowing down or lowering their weapons._

_For some reason, however, they don’t fire. They keep running, but they don’t fire. Nerys feels a sudden burst of anxiety, looking and her biggest enemies, her biggest hate._ She has to make sure her friends get out of here safely.

_But then Fujita tugs at Nerys’ arm, pulling her away from there._

_‘What are you doing?’ Nerys calls out._

_‘We can’t win this’, Fujita answers. ‘And even if we can, we wouldn’t get to your shuttle in time without any other guards finding us.’_

_Nerys knows Fujita is right, but she feels a surge of anger toward the woman. Letting Cardassians live when she has the opportunity to get rid of them, that is never a good idea. She does not like killing, but she_ does _hate Cardassians. However, Fujita does not let go of her, so she is forced to follow._

_Within a few minutes, Nerys and Fujita have caught up with the rest of the group. However, the Cardassians have started firing on them by now. Thus far, everyone in the group has managed to dodge the energy blasts, but the guards are getting closer._

_‘We’re never gonna make it!’ Ruggtei screams._

_‘Shut up and keep running’, Fujita screams back, visibly annoyed by the comment. She then jumps to the right, dodging the weapon’s fire and nearly falling over Arya. ‘Sorry’, she mutters, helping the older Bajoran get back up. Suddenly, her body freezes. She turns around, her face twisted in a look of both suppressed fear and anger._

_Nerys looks around and realizes what scared the Human woman._ The Cardassians have caught up with them.

_They keep running. They can’t do anything but keeping running, as fast as they can, avoiding the weapon’s fire. It would take a miracle to get out of here alive. Fujita had seemed a miracle, but it is doubtful that she can save them now. Is it?_

_\---_

_Suddenly, everything seems to go by in a flash. Nerys hears a scream, and from the corner of her eye she sees Arya falling down, a gaping wound in her back. She notices herself diving down without even thinking, picking the women up and swinging her over her shoulder, her hand trying to stop the waterfall of blood pouring out of the hole._

_Nerys knows she can never be fast enough while carrying Arya, and Fujita must have realized the same, because she screams to Nerys: ‘She’s dead, you have to let her go!’_

_Nerys, reluctantly, lets the body slip off her shoulder, hitting the ground with a sickening thud, and speeds up to catch up with the rest of the group._

_After a moment, Nerys hears the agonizing_ whoosh _of a weapon’s blast, followed by the screeching pain in her ear of a cut that is just not deep enough to bleed, but that hurts like hell._ They only just missed her _._

_Then, she feels Fujita’s arms wrap around her, throwing her to the side. She, again, hears the sound of a Cardassian rifle firing, followed by Fujita’s muffled scream as the blast hits her right arm. But before Nerys can ask if the woman is alright, Fujita pulls her up and drags her along, running even faster than before._

_And then, Nerys’ eyes fall on the small shuttle that is hidden in the bushes, just a few meters away from them. And she knows:_ they have made it _._


	4. Chapter 4

‘I SUPPOSE I AM’, Kira answered, staring into the distance.

‘I’m so sorry about what happened to her’, Fujita said with a sigh.

‘It’s not your fault. It’s not really anyone’s fault. Except the Cardassians’. She was just one other of the many war victims – just one other dead Bajoran to them.’

Fujita turned around to look at the Major. ‘I just can’t understand it. Well no… I can actually. Deadly cravings for power.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s always power, isn’t it? Power, territory, religion; but even if people fight about religion, it’s still all about power – power to control what someone does and thinks.’

Kira nodded dreadfully, then took a sip of her drink. ‘It is.’

Fujita scoffed. ‘But how do they justify it to themselves? How do they look at themselves in the mirror and think: “Today, I’m gonna murder a thousand people, that’s gonna be fun.” How?’ She threw up her hands in frustration. ‘I’m so sick of it, always sorting out fights, sorting out wars. It’s all so senseless. I wish the world would just stand down for one moment and would think to themselves: “What the bloody hell are we doing?” If they would just for one moment look at themselves – not at others – and just realize what they’re doing – not what others are doing, but what they are doing – just realize who they’re killing; maybe then they’d kick some sense into themselves. But of course that doesn’t happen, of course everyone keeps slaughtering each other…’ Fujita realized she has been ranting and cut herself off. ‘Sorry.’

‘No, you’re right’, Kira responded, and laughed cynically. ‘It’s all so messed up, isn’t it? One mad species sweeps in, and another species is thrown off course for decennia. I mean, look at me! It’s been three years and still no day goes by that I don’t think of it, of the Occupation. I doubt there _ever_ will.’

Fujita did look at the Bajoran woman. Both of them were right, there were so many messed up people. But they could not possibly generalize an entire race. Yes, the Cardassians occupied Bajor for half a century, doing the most utterly horrible things, but not all Cardassians were like that. She had experienced it herself. She had met a number of Cardassians back on the _Enterprise_ , and sure, they could be annoying – some of them would be considered outright mad by Federation standards – but not all of them were.

Besides, they were only doing what _they_ knew was right. You cannot judge someone by your own standards, definitely not if they do not even _know_ those standards. What the Cardassians did on Bajor was plain horrific, that could not be justified. But, most of the Cardassians were only doing what they had learned all their life, what they had been taught to do. Most Cardassians had no choice. You could not condemn them all for their leaders’ deeds.

The train of thought reminded Fujita of Germany in the Second World War. When the War had ended, all of Germany had gotten the blame, even though the real blame was on the Nazis. Millions of innocent men had been forced to fight for Germany, had been forced to kill other innocent men. Not because _they_ wanted to, because _they_ believed it was right, but because their _leaders_ – Hitler, the Nazis – forced them to, forced to murder their families if they did not fight. Because those _leaders_ believed it was right.

It was the same on Cardassia, was it not? Innocent Cardassians had been forced to kill innocent Bajorans. That did not make all of them evil, that made their leaders guilty. Those soldiers were only doing what they were taught to know – fighting for their empire. You cannot blame someone for doing what is wrong according to _your_ standards, you can only blame those who made _their_ “evil” standards.

‘What?’ Kira asked, and the Fujita realized that she had been staring at the woman while she was lost in thought.

‘Nothing.’

\---

Fujita had been abruptly woken up from her sleep. It was the middle of the night, about 4 AM. Definitely, something had to be wrong to be awoken at this hour. Quickly, Fujita rushed out of bed and jumped into her uniform, then dashed to Ops.

‘Admiral’, Commander Sisko stated when she arrived.

‘What’s going on, Sisko?’

The Commander’s face turned dark. ‘I’d rather talk in my officer.’

Fujita nodded, curiously, and followed the man to his room on the other side of the Operations Centre.

‘So?’ she asked once they were inside. She noticed Kira standing in the corner of the darkened room, clearly not happy with the situation – whatever that was. Or not happy with being awake in the middle of the night, that could well be too. Fujita herself did not mind that much, she was used to irregular time schedules.

‘There’s been a murder’, sighed Sisko.

Fujita could not contain an expression of shock and puzzlement. ‘A murder?’

‘One of the Vreoi was found dead’, Kira chimed in, ‘about an hour ago.’

‘Do we know how he died?’

Sisko shook his head. ‘Doctor Bashir is performing an autopsy as we speak, but thus far it seems like he just… died. Bashir suggested a heart attack, but once he examined to body further, he discovered that the Vreoi cannot have a heart attack like we do – something to do with their brain structure. So that decided it, it has to be murder.’

‘No one aboard would do such a thing. Would they?’ the Admiral asked.

No!’, Kira said, a bit too engaged. ‘We trust these people here.’

‘No suspects?’

‘None so far’, Sisko answered.

‘So it has to be a fellow Vreoi.’

Sisko nodded. ‘That’s what we concluded.’

\---

The murdered Vreoi was an elderly man. He did not seem extraordinary in any way; no physical specialities, no material specialties. They found out from interrogations that the man did not have any clear enemies among the Vreoi on the station either. His daughter had been among those who had not made it to Deep Space 9, and that was about the only interesting thing about the man that they could find. Besides, there had never been a murder before among the passengers before.

The results of the autopsy had not helped them much either. Bashir had not discovered any fingerprints or any other kind of DNA traces, which suggested a skilled killer. The victim had no injuries – besides a few bruises and scars left from his time aboard the Vreoi vessel – and there were no strange substances found in his body.

The Deep Space 9 crew was left with a mystery. Either the murderer was well hidden between the Vreoi, or he was from DS9 itself, which – as Kira had already implied – seemed unlikely. However, as the investigation progressed, it became more and more reasonable. No Vreoi had either the motive or the skills to commit murder.

\---

‘Ugh.’ Kira let out an annoyed sigh. ‘We’re stuck, aren’t we?’

Fujita did not respond, and kept walking toward Odo’s office, where a new batch of Vreoi was waiting to be interrogated.

‘We don’t have a single clue!’ Kira continued, raising her hands helplessly.

The doors to Odo’s office slid open, revealing the shape-shifter behind it, sitting at his desk.

‘Admiral, Major’, he stated neutrally. ‘The Vreoi are waiting.

‘Send them in’, Kira responded, after which Odo walked into the Brig and returned moments later with a young Vreoi woman.

Kira stepped forward. ‘Hello. I’m Major Kira Nerys and this is Admiral Fujita Diru’, she gestured toward the Human woman, ‘I hope the Constable didn’t make you too uncomfortable’, she continued with a slight – though not fully convincing – grin.

‘Oh no, it was fine’, the woman responded, nervously.

‘What is your name, ma’am?’ Odo asked, still standing in front of the doors that lead to the Brig.

‘I’m- I’m Cathana.’

Odo walked toward his desk and sat down. ‘Where were you tonight at 3 AM?’ he asked.

The woman looked at him with big eyes. ‘In bed, sir. Where else should I have been?’

‘Are there any witnesses?’

Cathana looked confused. ‘Of course not. I live alone, sir.’

Kira let out an annoyed sigh. The woman was not helping much. ‘You do _know_ that some has been murdered, don’t you?’ Odo cast her a warning glance.

‘Yes, ma’am, of course I do.’

\---

‘You haven’t said a word during the _entire_ interrogation’, Kira beamed, clearly annoyed.

Fujita swallowed. ‘Something’s wrong.’

‘No kidding! There’s been a murder, in case you hadn’t noticed.’

Fujita stopped and turned toward Kira, her dark brown, Human eyes piercing into Kira’s Bajoran ones. ‘We don’t even know why the Vreoi came here. We don’t know why they want to move to this quadrant. We don’t know _anything_ about them, yet we just let them swarm about station! And now we have a bloody dead body.’

‘We could hardly have refuse to help them.’

‘No. No we couldn’t. But I have a feeling that something far worse is going on that we have so far imagined.’

‘Like what?’ Kira looked at Fujita, knowing that woman was usually right.

‘I don’t know. And I really don’t like not knowing.’

\---

_THE HAND SLID THROUGH the air. It hovered above the panel for a split-second, then pushed the button that let the silhouette in. A slight rustle wavered through the late-night air, soft footsteps on cold deck plating._

_Another door slid open. A hand reached into a silhouetted pocked. The sound of metal on metal tingled through the dark room. The victim, unaware of his nearing end, in a state of peaceful sleep._

_The hand reached forward, swinging out a knife. Red liquid flooded the bed, but no scream came, no cry of agony. The cold grip of death had come and was not about to let go._


	5. Chapter 5

‘CHIEF, UPPER PYLON ONE has broken down again.’

Chief Miles O’Brien uttered a sigh. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, I’ve repaired that thing just last week!’ He grunted and dropped his interphasic coil spanner in his tool box, picking the box up. ‘Please finish this up Ensign’, he beamed, after stepping away from the open wall panel and the mess of wires.

‘Yes sir’, the Junior Engineer said, after which O’Brien left the room.

‘I swear, if that bloody pylon breaks down one more time this month, I’m gonna kill someone’, the Chief muttered to himself while getting on a turbolift to Upper Pylon One. There were these weeks when everything seemed to go wrong on the station. Murder, the station breaking down; it could not get any better.

When he reached the pylon, O’Brien opened up a Jefferies tube and immediately saw the problem.

‘The entire ODN system has shut down, that’s bloody near impossible.’ O’Brien murmured, again to himself. He opened his tool box, took his ODN recoupler and unsealed some of the Jefferies tube’s plating.

His heart skipped a beat.

\---

Fujita stared at the dead body. She drew a deep breath and turned toward Commander Sisko.

‘That was ensign Erbur Franklin, wasn’t he?’

‘Did you know him?’ Sisko asked in surprise.

‘Not well, I served with him on the _Akagi_ , but he was reassigned shortly after I was first posted there.’

Major Kira walked in, with Constable Odo following in her footsteps.

‘Do we have any idea what happened?’ Odo grumbled.

Doctor Bashir – who had been kneeling next to the body of the dead Ensign – stood up and turned toward the Constable. ‘It seems that he has been stabbed with a knife.’ Bashir shook his head. ‘Again, no traces of DNA or anything.’

‘No suspects?’ Odo continued.

‘Still none’, Kira responded, after which she sighed. ‘I really hoped this would stay between the Vreoi.’

Fujita looked down, her mind running a hundred miles an hour. ‘There has to be _some_ clue, we’re just missing it.’ She stepped forward and examined the lifeless body of the Ensign closer. She looked at his pale face with the messy brown hair – a face that had once been quite handsome – and she noticed that the man’s eyes had been respectfully closed. She presumed that that was Doctor Bashir’s doing. However, his mouth was twisted in a silent scream, and the look in his now shut eyes had undoubtably been one of terror.

Fujita’s eyes then hovered over the wound in Franklin’s chest. It looked like a normal stabbing wound, made by a dagger of some kind, or any small knife. It had torn through the Ensign’s clothes – which were covered in brown, dried up blood – with ease.

Suddenly, Fujita realized that the knife lay beside the corpse. Her breath faltered slightly, and she muttered: ‘I knew it.’ Then she turned around, ready to walk away.

‘You know what?’ Sisko said in a tone that was filled with both curiosity and some darker dread.

Fujita turned back toward the Commander, her eyes bright with new gained hope and the hint of a smirk dancing around the corner of her mouth. ‘I told you that there would be clues.’

\---

Fujita strode toward the cargo bay that held the Vreoi that could not be fitted in the station’s quarters – the station really was overpopulated right now. The Admiral was followed by Commander Sisko, Major Kira and Constable Odo, all of whom were quite puzzled by the situation.

‘Admiral, would you tell us what’s going on?’ Sisko beamed at the woman.

Fujita responded, without even looking around: ‘The knife.’

‘Yes?’

‘That knife, I’ve seen it before with one of the Vreoi.’

‘You have?’ Sisko responded, at the same time that Kira said: ‘With who?’

The Human Admiral did not respond, but stopped in front of the cargo bay doors, which slit open.

The Vreoi in the cargo bay fell silent, looking expectantly at the group of officers that entered the room. Fujita scanned their faces one by one, searching for that one face that she had to find. After a minute, her face turned dark.

‘He’s not here’, she chimed grimly.

‘Are you sure?’ Sisko asked.

Fujita turned toward him. ‘I never forget a face.’

‘What now?’ Kira said desperately.

‘Now, we wait.’

‘What?’ Kira was visibly even more confused than she had been when she had come into the cargo bay.

‘I figure that whoever is doing it, isn’t doing it just for the killing. A Vreoi killing another Vreoi could have been one guy having a grudge against another. However, none of the Vreoi even know any of the Starfleet officers besides us. Neither could Franklin have posed a threat to the killer of the first Vreoi being exposed, because Franklin has never even been near the Vreoi. I suspect that the murderer is seeking attention, for whatever reason that might be. If we just wait long enough, he’ll attack again.’

Odo produces a scoffing sound. ‘And then we’ll have another dead body.’

Fujita threw him a glance, then rolled her eyes with a smirk and drew a deep breath. ‘We’re not gonna let him kill anyone, we’ll catch him before he succeeds.’

‘And how where you planning on doing that?’ Odo’s low voice rumbled.

‘Well… presumably, our guy is looking for attention. He has now killed one of his own people and one of ours. He’s obviously looking for victims that will make us pay more and more attention to him. So, what’s the next logical target? That’s right, the Commander.’ She looked at Sisko.

‘You want me to play bait?’ Sisko asked, pulling up his eyebrows.

‘If you don’t mind, sir.’ The ‘sir’ hid a hint of humour – Fujita did not frequently use the word “sir”, she preferred names – but not in a disrespectful way. The woman really never seemed worried, she was able find the humour behind every situation.

\---

_Night had returned, leaving darkness in its trace. Coldness crept round and filled every empty corner. Silence drenched the heavy air. The ghosts of everything that was and everything that never will be, came to life to wander the great hallways, stealing every soul that came too close. No sane being dared itself outside – except Quark, who was closing the bar; but who ever said Quark was sane. Fear the dark, for no one knows what it hides. Night had returned._

\---

The door opened silently, revealing the silhouette of a man, just visible against the slight illumination from the hallway. The man stepped forward, his shoes making hollow sounds against the metal floor plating, the thudding muted by the soft material which the shoes were made of.

When the man reached the bed, he stood still and drew a deep breath. His tunic rustled slightly when he threw back his dark shirt and took a knife from his pocket. The metal blinked when it was hit by the light from the hallway, but the room stayed dark still. A threatening darkness. The man took another breath, and if the expression on his face had been visible, it had been one of amusement.

Then he flashed forward, the hand holding his knife was outstretched, his body stiff with force. His breath caught as his body filled with pleasure, and the silhouetted man could barely contain a chuckle.

However, when the knife hit the covers of the bed, his heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, a presence emerged from behind the man, and a voice rumbled: ‘Maybe you should first check if your victim is where you need them to be, before you attack.’ Then the man’s mind went dark.


	6. Chapter 6

FUJITA SIGHED. OF COURSE she was happy to have solved the mystery, but what the murderer – they never did found out his name – had told them, was more than just a little bit alarming. ‘The Dominion has not forgotten you’, the man had said upon awakening. And then: ‘I might just be an unimportant Pawn in the chess game of the Founders, but the Queen is on the move and Checkmate is nearing. This is not a goodbye.’ Then he had died. He had ingested some kind of poison which he had hidden in a fake tooth, according to Doctor Bashir. A precautionary measure in case he was caught. It was clear that this man had not worked alone, that had been part of a bigger plan, a bigger organization. Maybe he really had been sent by the Dominion, as he claimed. There was no way for them to know for sure.

‘There you are.’

Fujita was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Kira’s voice.

‘I’ve been looking for you. Sisko wants to thank you for helping out.’

‘It’s my job’, Fujita said, after which she turned around to face the Bajoran who had just entered Quark’s.

‘You say that a lot.’

Fujita glanced down uncomfortably but quickly faced Kira again. ‘Did Bashir find anything more?’

‘No’, Kira answered. ‘And I doubt he will.’ She threw Fujita a quick smile. ‘It’s over. We caught him, we’re safe.’

‘It’s never over’, Fujita stated. ‘The Dominion won’t back down any time soon. It’s only just beginning.’

Now Kira sighed too. ‘Let’s talk about something lighter.’

Fujita smirked ‘Sure.’

‘I never heard why you’re actually here.’

‘Well’, Fujita started, ‘I’m really just passing by. I arranged to meet my friend Kathryn Janeway – you know, the one that got me on the _Enterprise_ – but they’ll only arrive here in two, three weeks, and the _Enterprise_ couldn’t drop me off any later. I didn’t mind though, I was actually quite curious to see how Deep Space 9 turned out. I’d never been near Bajor since the Occupation.’

‘Oh yes, I heard that _Voyager_ would be docked here before leaving for the Badlands. Are you going with them on that mission?’

Fujita fumbled with her drink. ‘Might be, don’t know yet, actually.’

Kira noticed Fujita’s slightly uncomfortable tone, and asked: ‘Are you alright?’

Fujita smiled. Of course she smiled. Whenever someone asked her about her feeling, she always just smiled and shrugged it off. ‘I’m fine.’ She knew that Kira knew she was not fine. The two women might only have known each other for less than two weeks, but they had always had a strange kind of close emotional connection.

‘Fujita-’ Kira began, but the Admiral cut her off.

‘I really don't want to talk about it.’ She said it with so much force – almost aggressively – that Kira shut her mouth and just looked at Fujita, a hint if worry in her eyes. Fujita knew she should not have said that, but she _really_ did not want to talk about it. Some things were better if they were left to yourself.

Kira decided to change the subject again. ‘You’ve said several times that what you did at Karahna Prison Camp broke every Starfleet regulation, but I never really got that. I understand that it broke the Prime Directive – you weren’t allowed to help us in any way – but you didn’t kill anyone. You just saved a few innocent people. Why is it that bad?’

‘The problem is, that I couldn’t have known what the effects of my actions would be.’ Fujita took a sip of her drink.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Yes, the things I ended up doing didn’t have much of an effect – besides on you, if I hadn’t saved you, who knows if you’d even have been here and have done all the things you’ve done – but the thing is, I couldn’t have _known_ how my actions would turn out, what they would do to Bajor. That’s why I shouldn’t have done it. What if my shuttle had crashed in the middle of the Bajoran Occupational Government, killing all the important Cardassians or collaborating Bajor? Or if I’d have crashed in the middle of the Shakaar resistance, or any other resistance cell? I could have changed life on Bajor in ways we can’t possible imagine now.

‘And that’s why what I did was so wrong. I could not possibly foresee what would happen. I went there with the intention of helping the Bajorans out, which was already against the Prime Directive. But most importantly, I could have done catastrophic things, even if in reality I didn’t. I _could_ have.’

‘I- That’s stupid’, Kira claimed, and Fujita knew that it was one of the many things about Starfleet that seemed pathetic to Kira. ‘If you can help someone, you should.’

Fujita sighed. ‘Nerys, I know that some of Starfleet’s regulations and rules seem weird to someone who hasn’t grown up with them – hell, I haven’t even grown up with them – but I’ve learned to respect them and to see the wisdom in them. Of course you need to help people, but sometimes the only thing you do by helping someone is holding them back. You take away their chance to learn form their actions, from what happened. Do you know about the Second World War on twentieth century Earth?’

‘No.’

‘Alright’, Fujita took another sip of her drink. ‘In the 1930’s on Earth, a man named Adolf Hitler took control of Germany. At that time, Germany had been in economical trouble, and that’s why they accepted Hitler as their leader. He seemed strong. He promised to get them out of their misery. But the man was crazy. Or, well, maybe he wasn’t crazy. He was smart, he was a good tactician, but he didn’t have a heart. And he believed in the wrong things. In 1940, he started a world war, conquering many countries in Europe. You could say that he was much like the Cardassians, where the Cardassians hated on the Bajorans without any good reason, and Hitler hated on the Jews without any good reason. He wanted to kill them all, and he was well on the way of doing so. He locked up thousands of Jews and traitors in concentration camps and cold-bloodedly murdered them. Other – free – countries worked together as the Allies. Together, they sent armies into the regions that had ben captured by the Germans, trying to free the people. And of course the people in the occupied countries themselves formed resistance move-ments, like on Bajor. There was no way they could destroy a enormous power like Germany, but they were determined and they never backed off. They helped the Allied forces, and after five years, they won.

‘Well anyway, moral of the story is that at that time, people learned to work together. After this war, the countries in Europe started working together, forming organisations and unions. And after not too long, the European Union was born. Countries worked together in peace; promising to defend each other in case of war; supporting each other economically; fighting against dictatorship; and they opened their borders. However, they did stay separate countries. Because of the EU, Europe had a period of peace that hadn’t been seen before on Earth, and they helped other countries reach peace too.

‘You could say that this was the first step toward the United Earth, and even toward the Federation. It was the first real peaceful, international Human co-operational organisation.’ Fujita noticed that Kira still looked confused. ‘What I’m trying to say is, without the disaster of the Second World War, Earth wouldn’t have reached this level of peace and cooperation. I’m not saying that we should want disaster, but I _am_ saying that you can learn from disaster. Sometimes this is really important, this process of learning. But, if someone had interrupted and solved all Europe’s problems – stopped the war for them – yes, there would have been so many less deaths, but we wouldn’t have learned from our actions. Who knows if the EU would have ever been founded. You get what I mean?’

Kira looked at Fujita. ‘I do. I guess you have a point.’

Fujita smiled. ‘Let’s get another drink.’

\---

Fujita was packing the few bags she had brought with her. _Voyager_ would arrive within an hour, and she was getting ready to leave. She picked up one of her books – _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ by Douglas Adams, written in the twentiest century; she had always liked the man’s books – and looked at the battered cover. It was an original copy, of course not as special as Picard’s original Shakespeare and books of the sort, but she liked it.

Fujita smiled. It would be great to see Kathryn again, it had been way too long. The last time they had met up had been at Christmas, when Fujita had celebrated with the Janeway family and Mark Johnson. They had had an amazing time, of course. They had laughed about old stories from when they had both served on the _Billings_ ; about the time that there had been rumours about a supposedly secret romance between the two women – which was not true, obviously – and they had had a great time walking Mollie the Irish Setter, who was as enthusiastic as always.

But time had flown and both Fujita and Janeway had soon had to get back to their ships, to the infinite piles of work that were always awaiting them. And they had both been too busy to get together ever since.

However, a few months ago, James Kirk – Fujita’s famous husband who had been presumed dead for decades – had been found in the Nexus by Captain Picard. He had helped Picard and Fujita save a planet from being destroyed, but this time he had actually died.

Fujita, who had had twelve years – after waking up from the Nexus herself – to accept her husband’s death, was now thrown back into the process of grieving. And the only one with whom she could really talk about it, was her old friend Kathryn Janeway.

Suddenly, the doors of Fujita’s quarters chimed.

‘Come in’, Fujita called, slightly startled.

The doors whooshed open and revealed Major Kira standing in the corridor.

‘Come in’, Fujita said, and so did Kira.

‘I just wanted to say goodbye’, Kira said, smiling.

‘I’m glad you came’, Fujita answered, ‘I would have hated to leave without thanking you for the fun past few weeks.’

‘Oh, I didn’t do anything.’

Fujita smiled. ‘It was fun anyway.’

‘Yeah, it was.’

Fujita’s combadge chirped and let through Sisko’s mechanic voice. _‘Sisko to Diru,_ Voyager _has arrived.’_

‘Thank you, I’m on my way’, Fujita responded.

‘I’ll help you with your bags’, Kira said, after which she picked up one of Fujita’s cases. Fujita picked up the resulting bags and walked toward the doors, which opened as soon as she got close to it. Kira followed closely.

As they walked through the corridors, the women stayed silent, unsure as to what to say. They usually talked very easily, but right now neither of them had much to say.

Fujita thought back at the two weeks that had passed since the incident with the Vreoi. They had not heard anything of the Dominion since, luckily. In fact, nothing special had happened at all. It had been like a short holiday to Fujita.

One evening, Deep Space 9’s entire main crew, Sisko’s son Jake and Fujita had had dinner together. Commander Sisko and Fujita – both great chefs – had prepared the food, which had tasted fantastic. All of them had had great fun, talking until the small hours of the night and eating way too much. Fujita doubted she had laughed as much as that night since a long time.

Fujita shook her head and looked at Kira. She sensed a strange kind of excitement beaming off of the woman and pulled up her eyebrows. Kira did not seem to notice.

‘You’re happy’, Fujita stated.

Now Kira looked at her. She looked a bit puzzled, them smiled again. ‘I suppose I am.’

The two women stopped and looked at each other. Then Kira’s combadge chirped. _‘Dax to Kira, I need your help in Ops.’_

‘I’m on my way’, Kira said, and which she turned her attention to the Human officer in front of her again. ‘It seems that I have to go.’

‘So do I.’ Fujita smirked. ‘I had a great few weeks, really.’

Kira looked down. She almost looked nervous, standing there all alone in the big hallway in front of the mighty Admiral; her head down; her hair slightly messy; her hand resting at her sides. Then she reached forward, taking Fujita’s shoulders in her hands.

Fujita froze when she felt Kira’s lips on hers, Kira’s warm lips that pushed gently on hers and tasted slightly like lipstick. Fujita’s body tingled.

Kira must have felt Fujita’s shock, because she quickly pulled back, turned around and walked away. Fujita saw the woman’s shoulders slump down and recognized her own mistake.

‘Nerys’, she called out, feeling a little embarrassed but also strangely excited. Kira stopped but did not turn back around.

‘Thank you’. Fujita knew a smile appeared on the Bajoran’s face, even though she could not see it. And then the Human woman took her bags and turned around herself, a long lost feeling enveloping her. It was something she had not experienced in years and had never expected to feel again. But there it was, and it made her smile. _This is not a goodbye_ , she thought.


End file.
